[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12934]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING SONIA GUTIERREZ

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JOE BACA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 16, 2007

  Mr. BACA. Madam Speaker, on May 18, 2007, the Latino and immigrant 
communities of the Greater Washington Region will gather to celebrate 
with Ms. Sonia Gutierrez her 35 years of selfless dedication to the 
larger community and to the Carlos Rosario International School.
  Sonia Gutierrez was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. She received a 
Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and a Masters Degree in 
Adult Education specializing in Supervision and Administration of Adult 
Education Programs.
  Ms. Gutierrez, is the CEO & Founder of the Carlos Rosario 
International Career Center and Public Charter School, and has spent 35 
years as a principal, counselor, advocate, and organizer to more than 
60,000 adult immigrant students.
  Ms. Gutierrez began her career in the District of Columbia Public 
Schools in May 1972 as a counselor in the Program for English 
Instruction to Latin Americans (PElLA). There she began her mission: to 
provide holistic education to adult immigrants with little formal 
education in their native countries, enabling them to succeed by 
addressing their social and academic needs.
  In October 1972, Ms. Gutierrez became the Director of PElLA and 
transformed the small, under-funded English as a Second Language (ESL) 
program into a comprehensive adult education program. In 1974, the 
Office of Right to Read of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and 
Welfare designated it as one of the best literacy programs in the 
Nation. As PElLA outgrew its facility, Ms. Gutierrez began a 2-year 
effort to secure a school building for the program. In 1978 she was 
successful in relocating the program to the old Gordon Junior High 
School in Georgetown; PElLA then merged with the old Americanization 
School with an initial enrollment of 800.
  Sonia Gutierrez has made a tremendous impact on the Washington, DC 
region and on the field of adult education. She has had a direct impact 
on the lives of over 60,000 people in the last 35 years. Many thousands 
more have benefited as the adult education model she developed has 
proliferated across the globe. The students served by the Carlos 
Rosario International School have been given the chance to achieve 
their dreams because of her belief in them and their potential, and her 
passionate leadership of the school.
  Ms. Gutierrez has triumphed over great adversity in leading the 
school to be the thriving model it is today. Today, it is arguably the 
most recognized school in the District of Columbia Public School 
System. Under her leadership it was recognized as a national model for 
adult education by the United States Department of Education. She has 
helped other schools replicate the model across the Nation as well as 
in Korea and Germany. When many adult schools were closed by the 
District of Columbia in 1996, she pushed on, ignored suggestions to 
retire, and reestablished the Carlos Rosario International School.
  Sonia Gutierrez is a civil rights activist, a leader and visionary. 
She is a fierce defender and advocate for urban school systems and the 
families who attend them. Sonia has been a model of leadership. Her 
commitment to fairness, excellence, and compassion has inspired many to 
make a difference in this world.
  It is for this perseverance, passion, visionary leadership, and the 
immeasurable impact on the lives touched by her work that we recognize 
Ms. Sonia Gutierrez' 35 years of service to the community.

                          ____________________